The monument was erected at Toowong Cemetery in May 1902 in memory of Lieutenant Lachlan John Caskey, who was killed in action at Makari Drift, Caledon River, South Africa on 27 September 1901. He was 31 years old.

Caskey was a member of the 5th Queensland Imperial Bushmen and, like all Australian troops participating in the South African [Boer] War of 1899-1902, was a volunteer .

The Caskey Memorial is unusual, a Government sponsored memorial to an individual, is important as the first known South African War memorial in Queensland and a model for later monuments in this state.

The unveiling of the memorial to the late Lieutenant Caskey was performed by the Hon. J. Murray, M.L.C. (Minister for Education), at Toowong cemetery on Saturday afternoon Iast, in the presence of a large attendance of civilians and the members of the fifth Queensland contingent, the Teachers Corps, and the State School Cadets. The troops were drawn up in open square facing the monument, which stands just within the gates of the cemetery, adjacent to that recently erected to the memory of members of the Permanent Battery who fell in South Africa.The Week (Brisbane), 9 May 1902.